It is Always Tough to be the Little Guy

Our alpaca herd, all boys named after the Rat Pack, seems to have particular issues in establishing a pecking order this time of year. I can tell by the amount of accumulated alpaca spit below his ear, that poor little Joey here is getting more than his fair share of pecking. So much so, that he is also a little underweight. Joey is our youngest member of the herd and is deaf. Having been rather low on the totem pole myself when I was younger, I tend to take any excessive pecking order establishment personally. Picking on a special needs kid brings out yet another kind of wrath in me.

I am pulling Joey aside and giving him a special meal, which is resulting in snarles and glares from Dino and the rest of the gang. I chose to explain that if they would have just left the poor boy alone, they wouldn’t have this problem.

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Sammy pleads his innocence and probably rightfully so. He tends to be the more laid-back member of the group, or maybe he’s just sneakier. It's hard to say.

Frankie and Peter on the other hand, had they not been such jerks, maybe could have kept certain parts of their anatomy. But, if I have anything to do with it, Frankie will be singing a slightly higher version of My Way by the end of the month. I’ve already scheduled his little procedure with the vet for an attitude adjustment (he's getting gelded).

Peter, out of all of them, should have been the nice guy considering it hasn't been all that long ago that he was the youngest, but I guess he's taking his turn at bat. He'll also be getting some hormone replacement therapy, so to speak.

He may be the little guy, but Joey seems to take it in stride. “Don’t worry about me; someday they’ll be old and feeble. What comes around goes around. Then I’ll have it My way.”

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Share your thoughts.

NEBRASKA DAVE

3/8/2012 6:32:25 PM

Christine, pecking order happens in all animals I guess. It even happens in humans. It's from that nature that bullying comes in school. Even in the work place pecking order happens. It may or may not be a spoken thing but everyone knows their order in the work ladder. Of course I only worked one career job for 41 years and the pecking order there seemed to hinge around knowledge and experience. It didn't necessarily go by age. Just the years of service mostly.
Have a great alpaca day and hopefully things will come to order in the alpaca pecking order.

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